Golden
by NostalgicChick
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Danny Fenton has been stressed out for the longest time. What happens when he finds peace with the company of his peer, Sam Manson? AU-ish one-shot. Rated T just 'cause I'm paranoid. Inspired by a song, but not necessarily a song fic. Slight DxS.


While both are adjectives commonly used to describe fatigue, there is a fine difference between being tired and being sleepy. If one is tired, not even a full night's rest could cure their stress-induced exhaustion. If one is sleepy, however, something as simple as a short nap could do wonders to help improve your mood, and subsequently your day.

Daniel James Fenton could easily be described as both tired and sleepy, though no one could ever really understand why.. His sister, Jazz, would claim that it was the struggle of social hierarchy combined with the stress of having eccentric, ecto-scientists for parents. His parents, of course, assumed it was natural teenage angst and would always try to cheer their son up by showing him all of their newest inventions. Tucker, his best friend, simply chalked it up to years of being bullied by the jocks and the ever-growing piles of homework finally taking its toll on the boy.

They were all right, but they were also wrong. Sure, life in high school was naturally stressful, but no one knew his secret; his double life as both an average, teenage boy and that of a hero (though Danny would never describe himself as such) just trying to make up for letting malevolent ghosts into the world. No one knew of his accident – the accident that manipulated his molecules and turned the boy half-ghost. No one knew he was the famous Phantom.

 _And that is exactly as it should be_ , Danny thought whilst strolling through the park to welcome the first day of summer vacation. Not often did the halfa have the chance to enjoy a peaceful walk in the park. It was almost a foreign concept for the seventeen year old to be there without any influences of the ecto-nature. _It's nice to be here without having to fight off any of those stupid, evil ghosts._

There was a brief moment in which the walking trail divided into two; one of the trails led back around, while the other led to the new community garden that was added to encourage families to spend more time outside together. Deciding he wasn't quite ready to end his trek, the raven-haired boy chose the second path towards the garden. Besides, it was something new and he thought it would be cool to check it out.

The community garden, as it turned out, wasn't as busy as Danny expected it to be. There were maybe three senior citizens and one small family hanging around, but other than that the place was nearly vacant. Spotting the large, old apple tree in the distance, Danny figured it would be a good time to take a break and sit against its large trunk. However, as the male got closer, he realized that someone else was already occupying the space.

"Is that… Is that Sam Manson?" he quietly asked himself while continuing closer to the tree for confirmation. "I wonder what she's doing here."

Upon further inspection, the girl in question drinking what appeared to be tea while holding some sort of book on dark poetry. It all seemed very fitting for the goth, but what seemed a little off was the patch of dirt on the girl's cheek and the gardening supplies to her left.

 _I don't know why it surprises me,_ he pondered. _She always seemed to bring her own lunches at school, and it was always full of fruits and veggies… Maybe they were home grown?_

Danny just found himself watching the girl, not even realizing he was staring. She just looked so peaceful and content. The halfa himself felt more relaxed just by seeing her in this state. Calm moments in his life were few and far between, so any time he had a break from the chaos of ghost fighting and school troubles, he relished them wholly. Unfortunately, in what he lacked in breaks he made up for with bad luck that could only rival Johnny 13's.

"What are you doing," a soft voice spoke, pulling Danny out of his thoughts, "watching me?"

Looking down, the blue-eyed male found himself staring into her deep, amethyst eyes. Her tone was that of accusation, but her eyes shown with curiosity and question.

"Oh, sorry. I was on my way here to sit and realized a little too late that you already took this spot," he explained. "I didn't mean to stare…"

"So why were you?"

"Uh, well," he blushed lightly in embarrassment, "you just looked so peaceful. I was kinda' jealous."

"Jealous?" Sam repeated, unsure of what the raven-haired male meant.

"Yeah… It's just that with school being so crazy and home being kind of weird… I don't get a lot of breaks."

His peer seemed to contemplate his answer is silence as she watched him, almost as if she was studying his body language for any deceitfulness. The several seconds that passed made Danny feel nervous, thinking the shorter girl would probably yell at him for being an unintentional creeper. For once, though, luck seemed to be on the boy's side as his only response was a shrug as the goth brought her attention back to her book.

Deciding he had overstayed his welcome already, Danny began to turn and walk away until the soft voice of Sam Manson once again entered the air.

"There's more room over here, you know."

"Huh?" he turned his head to look at her, but the girl's eyes were still glued to the book.

"It's a big tree. I don't mind you sitting here, too, if you want."

There was a second when Danny considered turning down the invitation, but instead found himself moving closer and sitting next to his peer.

"Thanks, uh, Sam," he smiled weakly, leaning his head against the tree.

"No problem," the girl glanced up, her eyes once again shining brilliantly. "Danny, right?"

"Yeah," he answered, closing his eyes briefly. "Danny Fenton."

"I know," and of course she knew this. Everyone knew who Danny was, but only because they knew who his parents were. "You were in my English class this semester."

"Guilty," he admitted as he opened his eyes and smiled at the brunette. "Thank god we're out of that place."

"Same here. I'm pretty sure I was actually losing brain cells there," she snorted. "If I had to sit through one more lecture on the symbolism in Shakespearian plays…"

"Don't even get me started!" he laughed. "I barely understood any of it, especially when Mr. Lancer would spend the entire lesson using period speak."

"It wasn't the period speak that was so bad," Sam commented. "It was the incorrect verbiage that made it terrible."

"Doth though have-eth thy homework ready-eth?"

"Detention, thy shall have-eth!"

Both teens began cracking up as they poked fun at their English teacher, glad to not have to deal with any more over-done and ridiculously long lectures on what seemed to be the only plays any educator seemed to know. It was nice to be able to kick back with a peer and just joke around about random topics. Not that Tucker wasn't fun to be around, but joking with Sam right now seemed to put Danny more at ease.

"So, what are your plans this summer?"

Book now forgotten, Sam played with her black bracelet, "Well, my parents want to take a trip to the west coast… But I'll probably stay home with my grandma and watch movies or something. Maybe go to a few protests or a concert."

"Would you like to hang out with my friend and I at the Nasty Burger tomorrow?"

The look of surprise almost amused Danny, but then he realized that Sam probably didn't get asked to hang out too often. Like he and Tucker, she was always an outcast at school. Maybe it was time for their circles to interlock?

"I guess… If you two are okay with me being there, that is."

"Are you kidding me?" Danny smiled reassuringly. "The three of us would have a blast."

"Okay then," Sam agreed, copying the halfa as she, too, rested her head against the tree. Both teens sat there for a while in silence, enjoying one another's company. It was new, but it was nice.

Thinking about the feeling he got whenever he looked at the girl's lively, purple eyes, only one thought entered Danny's mind as he began to drift off in a light slumber.

 _This summer is going to be great._

* * *

 **A/N:**

I'm only mildly happy with how this came out, but I hope you guys can enjoy it. I had every intention of finishing this sooner today, but 2,000+ words later and I realized that my original idea shifted into a later chapter for Mismatched Connections. This is actually much closer to my original idea, and is also my first oneshot on here. Although some parts seems to fall a little flat in my opinion, I'm proud to once again have something finished and uploaded.

Also, if you didn't notice, this is kind of a song-fic without being a song-fic. It was heavily inspired by the song _When the Day Met the Night_ by Panic! At the Disco. It's a really amazing song and I highly suggest giving it a listen.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Danny Phantom._

So far today, I've finished and uploaded this, wrote another chapter for Mismatched Connections, and painted pottery with a friend. It's been fun, but now I'm sleepy and am ready to catch some Z's. Good night/morning, everyone!

-NC


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